second period, Berardi escaped, took Gonzalez to the mat and pinned him in 2:35.

Berardi, recalled, “I pumped up to 113 to wrestle him at the beginning of the season. He was long, so I was ready for cradles but he wrestled like passive. It seemed like he wasn’t really ready but I was ready to go.’

In the second period, Gonzalez made a move but Berardi was ready and took care of business.

“He showed me he wasn’t ready to wrestle in the first period and after that, once we got to the second, he didn’t want any more of it. I doublelegged takedown, I jumped on a half and he sat on his stomach. When I locked the half, he came up, so I reloaded him a couple of times and he didn’t want to wrestle any more,” Berardi described.

Looking to finals against topseeded Oliver Kreizman (Col), Berardi said, “I’m the two seed. I was expecting to be here. I’m excited. The kid I am wrestling in the finals is good. It should be a fun match.”

It was very fun for Berardi since he won by 9-3 decision over Kreizman to grab the title.

Blue Devil senior Dylan Sontz, top seeded at 132-lbs, pinned his first opponent in 38 seconds. He began his semifinal bout by using a head-andarm takedown to a nearfall on Lucas Campos (SHP). He added two more takedowns and an escape to claim a 13-4, majority decision.

“He was wrestling 144 earlier this season, dropped down to 132 for districts. He had some good wins. I knew that my semifinal was a big, big match. I wasn’t looking ahead to the finals. I had to win my semis. All week, I have been game planning him because I viewed him as my biggest opponent today. The whole match, I just wanted to wrestle my match. I’m not the most aggressive wrestler, so I tried to slow him down, wrestle my pace, which I did a good job of,” Sontz said.

On his head-and-arm takedowns, Sontz explained, “I got my front headlock. That’s how I got my first takedown. I knew he was trying to push forward and push the pace on me, so I used that to my advantage. One thing I have faith on is I wrestle really smart, so I knew when he pushed forward, I would shoot for either a single or a double.”

Sontz had one more step to become district champ and he had to face Jamere Wyatt (E) to get it.

Sontz recalled, “I wrestled this kid last season. I beat him by a major. I know I can beat him. I am just going to wrestle my match the same way I just did, pull out some from my bag and get the win.”

Well he certainly did with a 13-1, majority decision.

Blue Devil senior Yehia Abdulrahman, top-seeded at 138-lbs, recorded a pair of pins en route to the title bout where he earned a 10-6 victory over Tyler Yildiz (SHP). Blue Devil Luke Sluberski came up one step shy of the 144-lb crown when he dropped an 11-4 decision to Mike Pocius (SHP). In his semifinal bout, Sluberski claimed a 20-3, technical fall over Ed Bonsu (Col).

The Blue Devils had three third place finishers. Freshman Max Berardi pinned Nicco Marshall (B) in 5:16 at 113-lbs to qualify for the region. At 120-lbs, Jake Conti took third when he won by 19-11, major decision over Esteban Romero (Newark East Side). At 150-lbs, Seth Bekker beat Raider Ryan Ricci, 12-2, for third. Raider Mike Cantrell took second when he was beaten, 17-1, by Pete Sadek (B) in the 157-lb title bout. Raider Tristan Sirmans took second after dropping a 17-2 tech fall to Anthony Pellegrino (SHP) in the 120-lb final.

CHAMPIONSHIP BOUTS: 106: — Berardi (W) d Kreizman (Col), 9-3 113: — Jared Van Allen (Col) d Joe Viola (SHP)7-4 120: — Pellegrino (SHP) tf Sirmans (SP) 17-2, 3:52 126: — Andre Moreno (SHP) md Max Griffin (RP) 16-2 132: — Sontz (W) md James Wyatt (E) 13-1 138: — Abdulrahman (W) d Yildz (SHP) 10-6 144: — Pocuis (SHP) d Sluberski (W) 11-4 150: — August Katz (Col) pMaksim Marrero (SHP) 1:22 157: — Sadek (B) tf Cantwell (SP) 17-1 4:32 165: — Sam Memo (Col) d Ethan Forbes (E)10-3 175: — Brandon Papa (SHP) p Xavier Paulino (B) 4:23 190: — Zemsky (W) md Rich (SHP) 100 215: — Rocco Salerno (SHP) p Tim Smith (E) 2:16 285: — Cassius Velasquez (B) d Lorenzo Palescandolo (SHP) 2-0